Located right next to the West Tennessee Street Strip’s many bars and clubs, Momma Goldberg’s Deli is a mecca for club-goers, bar hoppers and busy college students alike. / K. Maxwell Greenwood/FSView

Written by

Ross Toback

Staff Writer

Doors align the ceiling instead of the traditional tiles. Dimly-lit Christmas lights in an array of colors are pinned up around the walls. The house music is loud and the line is out the door and by this point in the night, the clock reading 2:00 am, almost nobody is completely sober. One may think this is any bar or club in Tallahassee. But Momma Goldberg’s Deli is no such place; the sandwich shop is Tallahassee’s biggest after party, and according to those who work there, they wouldn’t change a thing.

“We make the store more suited for drunk people, we’ll turn on our outer-light, we’ll turn on the colored-lights inside, we’ll play house music,” said Danielle Lentchner, one of Momma’s three managers.

According to Lentchner and store owner Robert Hines, Momma Goldberg’s makes over 50 percent of their profits between 12:00 and 3:00 a.m. That isn’t by accident. Hines said, the store was meant for late night from the very start.

“In this location, this restaurant wouldn’t be profitable if it was one with normal hours,” Hines said. “You might be able to break-even but I would say this would not be profitable without late night hours.”

Late night dining isn’t an untapped resource in Tallahassee. The business which Hines described as a “gold mine” at times encompasses a lot of competition.

Gumby’s Pizza is cheap, late night food right across the street from Momma’s. With that, McDonald’s is 30 feet adjacent to the small sandwich shop. Both fill up with late night eaters regularly along with other Tallahassee institutions such as Chubby’s, Guthrie’s and Chick-fil-A.

Keeping up with Tennessee Street’s fast food walk-of-fame isn’t easy, but because of their proximity, Momma’s has leg up on the competition. Some nights, they’ll bring samples of either nachos or small wraps to bars at The Strip to attract customers. Once in the door, customers are satisfied with the results.

“I’ll always choose this over McDonald’s or Gumby’s or Chubby’s,” said Victor Rahner, Degraff Hall resident and regular customer at Momma’s. “Everyone here is always so nice and friendly and the food is fire. I hate walking into McDonald’s after a late night. The lights are too bright, the workers aren’t very nice and there are sometimes people hounding you for spare change. That doesn’t happen in Momma’s.”

Lentchner and Hines explain that besides being their in-season times of year (Fall semester, Spring Semester, Summer C) a big spike in profit’s come when people’s financial aid kicks in and students have more money in their pockets to spend on food. The late night market though, isn’t easy to gauge. Sometimes you will strike rich, other nights, you could end up empty-handed, according to Hines.

“The late night drunk market can be inconsistent and unpredictable,” Hines said. “It’s stressful. You’ve got good employees who don’t need to be treated with the disrespect of a drunk person so there are downsides to it but at the same time, people come in when they’re drunk and they spend a lot of money so there are pros and cons just like in anything.”

Working at Momma’s late night is definitely an experience in itself, according to former employee Kelly Cioppa. Regardless, she explained she preferred working at night then during the day.

“Daytime we’ll get like one customer every 30 minutes. We aren’t a daytime business at all,” Cioppa said. “At night it’s a lot more fun and entertaining. You have the drunk people that are nice and funny and then those who are rude and belligerent.

Normally they are nicer than they would be when they’re sober when I’m making sandwiches. They’ll say things like ‘How long have you worked here, you’re so good at this,’ when I’ve worked there for like two weeks. Sometimes it also gets awkward because people don’t realize they’re not at the bar and you’re sober and you’re at work at you’re like, ‘Get away from me.’”

Awkward or not, for the crowds of intoxicated college students, restaurants like Momma Goldberg’s are blessings in disguise.